Police Contain Afghan Rage Over Film, as Protests Spread Elsewhere

KABUL, Afghanistan — Facing Afghanistan’s first significant outbreak of violence over an anti-Islam film that has inflamed mobs elsewhere, the police moved swiftly on Monday to contain rampaging groups of young men who were burning tires and throwing stones along a thoroughfare leading east out of Kabul, keeping the protesters from advancing toward the city and dispersing them within hours.

A large American base along the route taken by the protesters remained untouched throughout Monday morning’s unrest, and there were no reports of deaths or serious injuries among the police or protesters.

The work by the police earned the praise of Gen. John R. Allen, the commander of the American-led military forces in Afghanistan, and capped nearly a week in which the Afghan government has quietly worked behind the scenes to keep anger over the American-made film, which mocks the Prophet Muhammad, from turning violent. As news of the protests spread around the world last week, Afghan officials across the country gathered elders and religious leaders and told them that it was fine to speak out against the film, “The Innocence of Muslims,” but that they should urge people to stay calm and avoid violence.

Those efforts have continued — many sermons delivered during last week’s Friday Prayer, for instance, were vehemently anti-American and sharply critical of the movie yet concluded with urgings to keep the peace.

Afghan and Western officials on Monday said having those kinds of messages delivered by religious and tribal leaders had gone a long way toward averting a repeat of the violence that gripped wide areas of Afghanistan earlier this year after American soldiers burned Korans at a base north of Kabul.

The government also asked Internet providers to block sites hosting a clip of the film, shutting down access to Google, YouTube and Gmail in the process. Access to Google and Gmail appeared to have been restored on Monday afternoon, though officials said YouTube remained blocked for most Internet users.

The relative calm in Afghanistan, despite Monday’s outburst, has stood in stark contrast to events elsewhere in the Muslim world since last Tuesday when the American ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, was killed in an attack on the United States diplomatic mission in Benghazi as protests spread from neighboring Egypt. New outbreaks were reported Monday in Indonesia, Pakistan, Lebanon and Iran.

In Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, police firing tear gas and water cannons moved against hundreds of demonstrators who had gathered outside the American Embassy to express opposition to the film. Some protesters set fire to an American flag, while others hurled rocks and gasoline bombs and burned tires, news reports said.

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AFGHANISTAN The police kept protesters from advancing toward Kabul and dispersed them on Monday, and were praised by the commander of American-led forces.Credit
Omar Sobhani/Reuters

Demonstrations spread across Pakistan, where the government restricted Internet access to YouTube and other sites containing what the Telecommunication Authority called anti-Islamic material. The police clashed with protesters outside the United States Consulates in Lahore and Karachi, and dozens were reported hurt. In the Upper Dir district of northwest Pakistan, police officers opened fire on 600 student protesters, leaving at least one dead. In Islamabad, the United States Embassy suspended public services.

In Beirut, Lebanon, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah, condemned the video during a rare public appearance at a peaceful protest of thousands far from the United States Embassy. He said countries around the world should block Web sites carrying the video, and that its producers should be “punished.”

“America, which uses the pretext of freedom of expression, should understand that airing the entire movie will have repercussions in the world that are dangerous, dangerous, very dangerous!” he said.

Student protesters were also mobilized to denounce the film in Iran, where the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, blamed what he called the West’s “Islamophobic policies of arrogance and Zionism” and dismissed American government criticism of the film as meaningless. In a speech to police cadets, reported by Iran’s official news media, the ayatollah said Western countries “should acquit themselves of such a heavy crime not in words but in deed.”

There were also unconfirmed reports, apparently originating in an account on Sunday by the Iranian Students’ News Agency, that a religious foundation had enriched its death bounty on Salman Rushdie, the British author whose novel “The Satanic Verses” was deemed a blasphemy punishable by death 23 years ago by Iran’s revolutionary icon, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The news agency said the bounty was increased to $3.3 million from $2.8 million for Mr. Rushdie, considered by Iran’s clerics to be the inspiration for insults to Islam.

In Afghanistan on Monday, as in other parts of the world, most of the protesters were young men, who chanted for the death of America, Israel, Britain and President Hamid Karzai’s government.

The police here responded in force to quell the rioting. Scores of regular officers and riot police officers wearing helmets and protected by shields battled groups of young men throughout the morning.

The NATO-led coalition said the base that lies along Jalalabad Road, Camp Phoenix, had not been targeted by the protesters and was unaffected by the violence.

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But outside its well-fortified walls, the charred remains of shipping containers could be seen, though it was impossible to tell from the blackened steel shells whether they had been carrying supplies for the base or were being used by others not connected to the military.

Ayub Salangi, Kabul’s police chief, said about 50 policemen had sustained light wounds trying to keep the protesters in check. He, too, was left with some bruises and cuts from stones hurled by protesters.

At least two police cars were set ablaze, he said. By late morning, other smoldering vehicles could be seen along the road, as well as the burning shipping containers and piles of flaming tires. Plumes of black smoke were visible from the center of the city.

For many of the people who live near Jalalabad Road or work at the shops and construction depots that line it the protest was an unwelcome disruption that had accomplished little apart from destroying property. A man in his mid-30s, who declined to be identified by name, cursed the protesters for burning tires and shouted at them: “Will your dad pay for the road’s damages?” None of the protesters seemed to hear him.

“They can express their pure Islamic emotions, but this is not the way to do it,” he said. “The government built this road with money we beg from foreigners and now they are destroying it.”

The protests abated by noon, and a few hours later the road was clogged with its usual workday traffic.

Most officials gave only vague estimates of the size of the protest, saying hundreds of men took part. But one senior police officer, Gen. Ahmad Fahim Qayam, who commands the quick-reaction force of the Kabul police, told reporters that the crowd had numbered 3,000 to 4,000.

Mr. Salangi, the police chief, described the protesters as “emotional” young men.

In an unusual step, the American command released a statement praising the police, who did not appear to use deadly force in containing the unrest.

General Allen singled out the police chief, saying in the statement that “we watched his great efforts at peacefully containing the demonstrations. We all admire his courage and his leadership, and that of his brave police.”

Reporting was contributed by Alan Cowell from London; Salman Masood from Islamabad, Pakistan; Hania Mourtada from Beirut, Lebanon; and Rick Gladstone from New York.

A version of this article appears in print on September 18, 2012, on page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: Police Contain Afghan Rage Over Film, as Protests Spread Elsewhere. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe